Immunology and Infectious Disease Commons^™

Lipid Uptake And Metabolism In The Parasitic Protozoan Giardia Lamblia., Mayte Yichoy

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Giardia lamblia is a protozoan parasite that causes various intestinal syndromes, and it is a common cause of water-borne illness worldwide, both in developed and developing countries. Giardia attaches to the mucosal epithelia of the duodenum below the bile duct, where it is exposed to bile salts and dietary lipids. G. lamblia is unable to synthesize lipids de novo and must therefore scavenge necessary lipids from its extracellular environment and remodel them as needed. However, the current lipidomic analysis (presented in this Dissertation) has revealed that while the Giardia lipidome is rich in phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), and phosphatidylglycerol (PG), …

Molecular Characterization Of Trypanosoma Cruzi And Shed Vesicle Components Involved In Host Immunomodulation And Cell Invasion, Ernesto Satoshi Nakayasu

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Chagas disease caused by Trypanosoma cruzi is a devastating infectious disease with millions of cases in Latin America, and recently became a public health concern in United States and Europe. Although many efforts have been made for the development of an effective immunotherapy, currently there is no human vaccine for Chagas disease. Thus, the treatment is based only on two drugs that have limited efficacy and in some cases present severe side effects. One restriction for the rational approach to develop new therapies against this disease is the limited information about the proteins, glycolipids and protein posttranslational modifications expressed by …

Giardia Lamblia: Genomic And Molecular Analyses Of Flippase, Diana Leticia Villazana-Kretzer

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Giardia lamblia, is an intestinal protozoan parasite responsible as a major cause of water-borne intestinal infection in humans (giardiasis). It has been proposed earlier that Giardia has limited lipid synThesis ability and therefore relies on preformed lipid molecules from outside sources. It has also been proposed that lipids are taken up through passive and active transport, and giardial flippasse play a significant role in this process. This study describes the identification and characterization of a putative homologue of flippase gene from Giardia. Flippase is an enzyme that functions as a trans-bilayer transport system facilitating the flip flop diffusion of phospholipids …

Autoimmunity, Immune Deficiency And Cancer: Multiple Roles Of The Protein Tyrosine Phosphate Shp-1, Melissa J. Joliat

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

One of a large number of mutant mice used in immunological research, the "motheaten" mouse was the first model of a specific protein tyrosine phosphatase deficiency. Mice carrying one of two allelic mutations at the "motheaten" locus have severe systemic autoimmunity and immune dysfunction as a result of mutations in the hematopoietic-cell phosphatase (Hcph) gene, which encodes the protein tyrosine phosphatase SHP-1. Studies using "motheaten" (me/me) and "viable motheaten" (me^v/me^v) mice have increased the understanding of numerous signaling pathways in immune and hematopoietic cells. A number of studies on SHP-1 function …

The Specific Immune Response In Rainbow Trout: Somatic Hypermutation And Vh Gene Utilization, Teresa D. Lewis

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

The study of antibody responses in prominent aquaculture species such as the rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, can facilitate vaccine development and contribute to producing useful paradigms of adaptive immunity in lower vertebrates. Thus, it is essential to identify genes responsible for antibody responses. In the mouse model, hybridoma technology allows for the association of monoclonal antibodies possessing various affinities for antigen with specific VH sequences, gene family utilization, and other molecular events (i.e. somatic hypermutation) that occur during the specific immune response. The absence of a comparable hybridoma technology in piscine systems has limited similar studies of fish immunogenetics to …

Cytotoxic T Cell Response To Influenza Vaccination In Older Adults, Caroline R. Letter

Chemistry & Biochemistry Theses & Dissertations

Influenza infections result in activation of cellular and humoral immune responses, leading to stimulation of cytotoxic T cells (CTL) and helper T cells with subsequent viral clearance.

By using an assay of granzyme B activity, the in vivo cellular-mediated immune response of old adults was found to be significantly decreased in comparison to young adults. The effect of aging on the CTL response was further investigated via enzyme-linked immunospot technique. A significant increase in number of virus-specific T cells occurred in older adults after vaccination, although the magnitude of the CTL response decreased in comparison to young adults. These data …

Role Of Immunodominant T Cell Responses To Minor Histocompatibility Antigens In A Mouse Model Of Graft-Versus-Host Disease, Marc Adam Berger, B.S. Thomas Jefferson University

Full-Text Theses & Dissertations

Graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD) is a major complication of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) matched bone marrow transplantation. GVHD is the result of an immune-mediated attack, by T lymphocytes derived from donor bone marrow, against recipient tissues expressing minor histocompatibility antigen (miHA) differences. There is a lack of knowledge concerning the nature of in vivo immune responses to miHA during GVHD. C57BL/6By (B6/By) and BALB.B mouse strains both express the H-2B MHC haplotype but differ at more than 40 miHA loci. Both the in vitro and in vivo T cell responses to miHA expressed by BALB.B and CXB recombinant inbred (RI) strains of …

Probing Protein-Protein Interactions Among Proteins Of A Nonaggregated Fatty Acid Synthetase From Euglena Gracilis Variety Bacillaris, Sande G. Williams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Enoyl-acyl carrier protein (ACP) reductase from chloroplast nonaggregated fatty acid synthetase (FAS) of Euglena gracilis variety bacillaris was purified to a single band on a denaturing polyacrylamide gel. The enzyme was partially characterized with respect to substrate specificity, reduced nucleotide requirement, and the effect of ACP and Ca$\sp{++}$ on enzyme activity. Antibodies against the purified protein were raised in hens and isolated from eggs. ACP was purified from Euglena in yields of about 1mg/100g (wet weight) of cells. Antibodies were raised against the purified protein. ACP antibodies inhibited the Euglena chloroplast FAS using Euglena or E. coli ACP as a …

Purification And Characterization Of The Prostate Cancer-Associated Antigen: 7e11-C5, Qi Feng

Theses and Dissertations in Biomedical Sciences

A murine monoclonal antibody (MAb), 7E11-C5, recognizes a prostate organ-specific antigen. Under reducing conditions, the 7E11-C5 antigen exhibited major 100-Kd and minor 70-Kd bands, suggesting that the antigen comprises two peptide chains. The antigen was detected in pooled normal human seminal plasma, xenograft tissue extract of a prostate adenocarcinoma cell line, LNCaP, and tissue extracts of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and prostate carcinomas, but was not identified in any of the non-prostate tissue extracts tested. Antibodies of the three major prostate-associated antigens (prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP), prostate specific antigen (PSA) and prostate secretory protein (PSP)) were unable to block the …

Immunological Identification Of A Centrin Homologue In The Red Alga Gracilaria Tikvahiae, Christopher Lee Dassler

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

An Immunochemical Analysis Of Alcoholic Hyaline And Its Relationship To Keratin Intermediate Filaments, David L. Drexler

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Alcoholic Hyaline (AH) and keratin intermediate filaments possess ultrastructural, biochemical and immunochemical similarities. This study compares human AH, human stratum corneum keratin (HSCK) and normal human liver cytokeratin (HCK) by quantitative immunochemical means, using polyclonal as well as monoclonal antibodies. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) were employed, as well as "immunoblotting" and immunocytochemical techniques. HCK was isolated using Triton X-100 and "high-salt” buffers and exhibited seven major polypeptide bands on SDS-PAGE (41-58 kd). Antisera were made toward HCK and the two major HCK bands. Other immunochemicals included antisera toward AH, the three major AH bands, and HSCK, as well as 3 …

The Comparative Histochemistry Of The Infective Oncospheres Of Oochoristica Osheroffi Meggitt, 1934, And Oochoristica Scelopori Voge And Fox, 1950, (Cyclophyllidea: Linstowiidae) With Notes On The Origins Of The Egg Membranes, Gary R. Coulter

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Infective oncospheres of Oochorlstica osheroffi and Oochoristica scelopori were compared using fifteen histochemical tests. Vital stains were also used.

Carnoy’s-fixed gravid proglottids were vacuum-embedded in a paraffin-piccolyte mixture and cut transversely at 6 microns. Sections were tested for the presence of phosphatases, proteins, sclerotin precursors, nucleic acids, carbohydrates and acid mucopolysaccharides.

Oncospheres were histochemlcally very similar. Heavy concentrations of mucoproteins and glycoproteins were detected in the oncospheral coat of O. scelopori. Acid phosphatase was found in the embryophore of O. osheroffi, but could not be demonstrated in O. scelopori. No evidence of a sclerotized egg capsule was …